Drawer construction

ABSTRACT

A drawer for an article of furniture having a two piece plastic front including a decorative front surface and a rear surface secured thereto. A dovetailed mortise created by a pair of spaced ribs joined at the top by an integral cross rib for limiting the position of the drawer sides is molded prominently to the rear surface. Each drawer side has dovetail tenons receivable in a respective mortise to interlock the sides to the front. A pair of spaced ribs between which is received the drawer bottom is also molded prominently to the rear surface.

Unite States Patent 1 1 Ro kwell 1451 Nov. 5, 1974 DRAWER CONSTRUCTION3,687,512 8/1972 3,696,233 10/1972 [75] Inventor. Jerry E. Rockwell,Sanford, NC. 3,738,726 6/1973 [73] Assignee: The Singer Company, NewYork, 3,752,553 8/1973 N.Y. I Primary Examiner.lames T. McCall [22]Flled' 1972 Attorney, Agent, or FirmRobert E. Smith; Edward L. [21]Appl. No.: 316,204. Bell; Alan Ruderrnan 52 U.S. c1. 312/204, 312/330[571 ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl A47b 88/00 A drawer for an article offurniture having a two piece Field 05 Search 0 330; 220/ F; plasticfront including a decorative front surface and a 5, 381 rear surfacesecured thereto. A dovetailed mortise created by a pair of spaced ribsjoined at the top by an [56] References Cited integral cross rib forlimiting the position of the UNITED STATES PATENTS drawer sides ismolded prominently to the rear sur- L468786 9/1923 face. Each drawerside has dovetail tenons receivable 2 3 5 8/1957 in a respective mortiseto interlock the sides to the 3,031,782 5/1962 front. A pair of spacedribs between which is received 3,316,460 4/1967 the drawer bottom isalso molded prominently to the 3,338,285 8/1967 rear surface. 3,462,2088/1969 3,639,027 2/1972 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures DRAWER CONSTRUCTIONBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a drawer for anarticle of furniture and more particularly to the construction of adrawer front and the assembly of the same to the drawer body.

The recent increase in the use of plastics by furniture manufacturers isat least partly due to the current popularity of certain ornamentalstyles of furniture and the high cost of wood and labor involved inproducing these styles. Highly decorative ornamentation are especiallyadapted to drawer and door fronts. However, assembling the sides to thefront of the drawer creates a problem not previously presented withwooden fronts. 1f the front is molded as a solid one-piece constructionthe sides may be secured to the front by means of rivets or the likemolded into the rear of the front which may be attached by brackets tothe sides. Also, recessed grooves may be cut into the rear of the frontfor receiving a tongue or tenon formed on the sides. These conventionalconnection methods result in a drawer front which is thicker and heavierand requires more machine work and/or materials than is economicallydesirable. One way to reduce the material and weight and cost of thedrawer front is to mold the front in two parts a decorative front paneland a back panel secured thereto. However, because this results inportions of the drawer front being hollow and other portions havingabutting two skin thick sections, the conventional methods of assemblingthe sides to the front are not satisfactory. Use of a recessed mortisefor receiving tenons formed on the sides can restrict the surfacedecorative ornamantation and also create problems when as sembling thefront and rear panels to each other, whether by bonding, gluing or othermeans SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the presentinvention to provide a new and improved drawer front construction havinga decorative ornamentation, which drawer front defining ribs forreceiving the front edge of the bottom.

A drawer menufactured according to this invention provides the advantagethat the drawer front design is not restricted since the mortise isoutside the back of the drawer front. An added advantage is that thedrawer is much stronger. Furthermore, the securing together of thepanels of a drawer manufactured of two panels is aided and no machiningis required on the mortise after the back panel is applied to the front.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other objects and advantagesof the invention will be more readily apparent from the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a drawer manufactured according topresent invention, the front being shown as disassembled for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section taken along line 22 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-section taken along line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-section taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, drawer 10is illustrated comprising a front wall 12, a pair of side walls 14 and16, a bottom 18 and a rear wall 20. The front, as best illustrated inFIG. 2, comprises a front panel 22, and a back panel 24 secured togetherby conventional means, such as gluing, bonding or any other method ofproviding a permanent type of bond between the panels. The front andrear panels comprises a synthetic plastic material which may bepolystyrene or other such materials which may be ejection molded andpossess the proper strength. The front panel 22 may comprise anaesthetically decorative front surface having an undulatingornamentation, such as illustrated at 26 in FIG. 2. The rear surface ofthe inner edges of the front panel, as at 28, and the rear surfaces ofthe decorative valleys of the front panel, as at 30, contact theperiphery and forward facing surfaces of the back panel to provide astrong front assembly when secured together.

Molded integral on the rear surface of the back panel are two pair ofspaced ribs or lips 32 and 34. Ribs 32 comprise a first verticallyelongated rib 36 spaced from a second vertically elongated rib 38 andjoined together at their tops by an integral cross rib 40 which may berounded as shown. Each rib 36 and 38 projects from the rear surface ofthe back panel 24 at an angle toward the other rib. The space betweenthe ribs 36 and 38 define a mortise 42, i.e., a socket or cavity forreceiving a tenon. The particular shape of the mortise, as shown in FIG.2, is trapezoidal to receive in complementary fashion a dovetail shapedtenon 44 formed on the forward end of side wall 14, i.e., a trapezoidalshaped head joined by a neck to a pair of shoulders of a width equal tothe main body of the side wall. The side walls are preferably wood andtherefore the tenon 44 can be formed by routing or wood shaping. Theymay also be made of plastic and molded to shape. The particular shapesof the mortise and tenon are preferred because of the strong permanentjoint they make, but other forms can be used with equal success.

Since each pair of ribs 32 and 34 is exactly the same only ribs 32 andtenon 44 have been described, but it should be understood that what hasbeen said in regard thereto applies equally to ribs 34 and tenon 46. Toassemble the side 14 to the front, the tenon 44 is frictionally slidinto the mortise until it engages the cross rib 40 which thus provides avertical limit for the tenon. This arrangement of a prominent mortisenot only provides the advantages previously described but provides astronger back at that location because no portion of the rear surface 24is removed. Moreover, it allows the drawer to be deeper with sides ofthe same length.

Also molded into the rear of the back panel is a pair 48 of spaced ribsor lips extending substantially horizontally between the inner ribs ofeach pair of ribs 32 and 34. Each rib 50 and 52 of the pair 48 projectssubstantially normal to the rear surface of the back panel 24 anddefines a channel or rabbet 54 therebetween for receiving the front edgeof the bottom panel 18 to support the same.

To assemble the drawer each side tenon is inserted into a respectivemortise as heretofore described until the top of the tenon engages thecross rib 40. The height of each side is longer than the mortise andextends below the .rabbet 54. Moreover, each side includes a rabbet 56disposed vertically in alignment with the rabbet 54. After the sides areproperly inserted, the bottom 18 is inserted into the rear of eachrabbet 56 and slid forwardly until the front is properly in the rabbet48. The rear wall 20 is then assembled to the sides and bottom byconventional means. This not only provides a rapid assembly but anextremely strong drawer construction.

Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understoodthat the present disclosure relates to a preferred embodiment of theinvention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to beconstrued as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications whichdo not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to beincluded within this scope of the appended claims.

Having set forth the nature of the invention, what is claimed herein is:

1. In a drawer comprising a bottom, a pair of opposed sides connected toopposite sides of the bottom, a rear wall connected to the rear of thebottom and the sides, and a synthetic plastic front comprising a frontpanel and a back panel, the front surface of the front panel having adecorative undulating contour, means for securing the front panel to theback panel with portions of the front panel abutting the back panel andportions of the front panel spaced from the back panel to define hollowstherebetween, a tenon formed on the front of each of said sides, andmeans defining a pair of mortise prominent of the rear surface of theback panel for receiving said tenons to form interlocking joints betweenthe front and the sides, each mortise comprising a pair of spacedconverging ribs integrally formed on the back panel and an integralcross rib connecting the tops of the spaced ribs.

2. A drawer as recited in claim 1 including a rabbet prominent of therear of the back panel extending between the mortise for receiving thefront edge of the bottom.

3. in the manufacture of a drawer for an article of furniture the methodof assembling the sides of the drawer to a plastic front having adecorative undulating front surface contour and hollow portions betweenthe front surface and the rear surface, said method comprising, forminga tenon on the front of each side,

molding a pair of mortise defining spaced ribs on the sides.

1. In a drawer comprising a bottom, a pair of opposed sides connected toopposite sides of the bottom, a rear wall connected to the rear of thebottom and the sides, and a synthetic plastic front comprising a frontpanel and a back panel, the front surface of the front panel having adecorative undulating contour, means for securing the front panel to theback panel with portions of the front panel abutting the back panel andportions of the front panel spaced from the back panel to define hollowstherebetween, a tenon formed on the front of each of said sides, andmeans defining a pair of mortise prominent of the rear surface of theback panel for receiving said tenons to form interlocking joints betweenthe front and the sides, each mortise comprising a pair of spacedconverging ribs integrally formed on the back panel and an integralcross rib connecting the tops of the spaced ribs.
 2. A drawer as recitedin claim 1 including a rabbet prominent of the rear of the back panelextending between the mortise for receiving the front edge of thebottom.
 3. In the manufacture of a drawer for an article of furniturethe method of assembling the sides of the drawer to a plastic fronthaving a decorative undulating front surface contour and hollow portionsbetween the front surface and the rear surface, said method comprising,forming a tenon on the front of each side, molding a pair of mortisedefining spaced ribs on the rear surface adjacent each side, each pairof ribs being spaced to frictionally receive the tenons, and inserting arespective tenon between each pair of ribs.
 4. In the manufacture of adrawer as recited in claim 3 including the method of assembling thebottom of the drawer to the front wall comprising the steps of forming apair of rabbet defining ribs on the rear of the front wall extendingbetween the inner rib of each mortise, and inserting the bottom of thedrawer between said rabbet defining ribs subsequent to the assembly ofthe sides.